Bartre is a one-dimensional character, preferring Attack in every build. His impressive physical bulk means that he would prefer not to sacrifice HP or Defense, leaving Speed and Resistance as the least important of his stats. Ultimately, only Attack really matters and everything else is secondary.

Boons

+ATK: The single best boon for Bartre, and the only one he should ever run. It improves his one-shot damage which is Bartre’s greatest strength.

Neutral

HP: Bartre has excellent HP, and is one of the best users of Panic Ploy and Infantry Pulse. These are recommended skills, so it’s advised to keep this neutral.

DEF: Bartre rarely runs Bonfire or Ignis, but his high base Defense is still one of his signature strengths. It’s not recommended to reduce this.

Banes

-SPD: Completely unnecessary for Bartre, as he aims to OHKO his opponents. His anti-armor set runs Axebreaker to shortcut his low Speed.

-RES: At base 13, Bartre’s Resistance is a joke. He dies to mages of all colors, so this can be reduced safely.

Bartre’s raw power makes him effective at running a OHKO set with a Brave Axe. He combines several skills that boost his Attack to give him a large upfront power boost. This set is straightforward and brutal: simply attack the enemy you want removed from the field. This set is flexible provided every skill choice seeks to further increase Bartre’s Attack.

Death Blow and Brazen Atk/Res give Bartre a combined +15 to his Attack when initiating combat. Chill Def acts as another Attack booster, by reducing the foe’s Defense prior to Bartre’s assault. These skills are the most reliable, but he can also go for Wrath and Brazen Atk/Res. Doing so makes him slightly stronger when under 75% HP, but significantly weaker when at full HP. Fire Boost is an alternate choice, but is unreliable and is dependent on Bartre’s current HP.

Panic Ploy and Infantry Pulse are both great team support skills that take advantage of Bartre’s massive HP stat. Panic Ploy is the best general choice, as Infantry Pulse requires a team to be built around it. However, Bartre is the strongest user of Infantry Pulse in the game, and is very potent on Infantry teams. Reposition and Swap are strong Assist skill choices, giving Bartre the ability to save allies or dive into danger himself.

Bartre’s defensive build has a completely different playstyle to his offensive set, but it’s a very solid choice. The great thing about this set is that it gives him some much-needed Speed: up to 31, which is enough to prevent many more follow-up attacks. It’s primary function is to defeat armor, but it works well in many general scenarios. Coincidentally, it’s rather cheap and stands as Bartre’s premier budget option. It also performs better than his recommended set at the highest levels of the Arena.

Fury and the Axe of Virility give Bartre +6 to all his stats, notably boosting his base Speed to 31. This is now enough to avoid many doubles from Axe-users, and prevent some Special Fighter users from doubling Bartre. Guard and Quick Riposte are a classic defensive combination, and they prevent foes from activating Specials while allowing Bartre to double attack on enemy phases. Axebreaker is a passable B slot alternative, however it’s highly recommended to go for Guard.

Glimmer is the Special of choice, and it’s a great way to deal with red armor that Bartre can’t beat normally. Dragon Fang is ridiculously powerful, but Bartre is unlikely to get the opportunity to fully charge it during a round. Reposition and Swap are again strong choices, giving him the power to save allies from death or jump into the frontline. His C slot skill is entirely dependent on playstyle. Bartre’s Infantry Pulse is fantastic on this set, especially when paired up with a Slaying-Wrath sword unit (like his daughter!)

Introduction

Bartre is Fir’s overbearing father and hails from Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. He is an axe-wielding Infantry unit famous for having stellar Attack and HP. Bartre is such a commonly summoned unit that he’s known as a meme within the community. But, this makes him easy to merge and to get a better boon/bane set.

His stats are one-sided with excellent Attack and HP, but poor Speed and Resistance. Despite his great physical defense, he is best as an offensive unit who aims for OHKO’s on other units. This is because his Speed and Resistance let him down significantly as a defensive unit, especially against magic damage. Although, Bartre’s Axe of Virility also allows him to be built as a generic bruiser with great anti-armor capacities.

Many see him as a joke, but with armor being so common in the Arena, Bartre is far from unviable. He’s an excellent user of Panic Ploy and enables interesting team ideas with skills such as Infantry Pulse. Being commonly available and cheap to build makes Bartre a good investment for free to play players, or anyone struggling with armored units in the Arena or Arena Assault.

Bartre is one of our recommended units for a Duel Skill build. For more information on Duel Skills, see our guide to G Duel Infantry.

Strengths

Stellar Attack

Base 36 is exceptionally high, and makes him one of the strongest units in the game. Having such a high base Attack is what lets Bartre great at OHKO’ing enemies with his sets. Both of Bartre’s sets revolve around his huge Attack stat, and it’s his most defining trait as a unit.

Very High HP

Bartre boasts a massive 49 base HP, which he combines with a decent Defense of 33 to make him very strong defensively. Not only is he great at taking hits, but having such a high HP makes him an excellent user of certain skills such as Panic Ploy and Infantry Pulse.

Weaknesses

Low Speed and Resistance.

Where Bartre falls down is in his Speed and Resistance. Base 25 is far too low for Bartre to avoid follow-up attacks, and even with Fury plus Axe of Virility, he reaches only 31 Speed. He finds himself easily doubled by sword-users who are super effective against him. His Resistance means he takes heavy damage from dragons and mages, both foes with enough Speed to double him.

Can’t counter threats other green axes can.

The prevalence of blue (and sometimes green) mages means that it’s very common for green units to run Distant Counter. Bartre does have this option, but his Resistance is so pitifully low that he’s in danger of being KO’d. Unfortunately, Bartre is one of the poorer anti-mage options among Axe-users.

Team Options

As an Infantry, Bartre lends himself to many kinds of teams. His inability to counter mages is a flaw, but they are some of the best allies for him. Being able to run Panic Ploy and Infantry Pulse allows him to be a key member of some unusual teams.

Blue and Red mages: If Bartre uses Infantry Pulse, mages such as Sanaki, Lute, Linde and Micaiah are great allies. He can give them devastatingly powerful specials in fewer turns. They in turn can soak magic damage for Bartre, who struggles with it.

Sword-users: Bartre’s powerful attacks have the power to punch through strong blue tanks. Allies like Ayra, Mia, Black Knight, and Zelgius appreciate having them removed from the field.

Anti-mages: Units like Faye, Felicia, Sigurd, and Seliph can handle the kinds of mages that threaten Bartre. In return, he is strong against many of the units that they are weak against.

Counters

Bartre’s list of counters is largely determined by his low Speed and Resistance. He can’t take magic damage well, especially if the foe has enough speed to double Bartre. His attacks also can’t pierce the defenses of strong red tanks.

Mages: By far, Bartre’s biggest weakness is mages. Many are high-speed units and can easily double him on his nearly non-existent Resistance. Sanaki, Nino, Linde, Reinhardt, and L’Arachel are some of the most prominent examples, but he fears the existence of practically any mage.

Healers: Many healers have the power to severely dent or KO Bartre with Wrathful Staff damage. Elise, Priscilla, and Clarine are especially deadly when buffed with Hone Cavalry.

Red units: Strong red units like Lucina, Adult Tiki, Vanguard Ike, and Fallen Celica can all wall Bartre with ease due to their high Defense and color advantage.

User Submitted Builds

A build designed to take advantage of Bartre's high defence and allow him to become a physical tank.

IVs: +Atk/+Def, -Res/-Spd. Attack boon is still preferred, as Bartre could always use more power (and his defence will already be high enough as it is). If you want more tankiness, more Defence is also a good option. His Resistence is awful no matter what, so a bane won't affect him much, as he will still die or take heavy damage against just about any mage regardless.

Weapon: The Slaying Axe+ with the Defence refine is preferred to reduce the cooldown of Ignis. If on a budget, his Slaying Hammer can be used with the same Defence forge.

Assist: Smite is kept here, but the skill used is really up to what the player needs

Special: Ignis is the obvious choice here if using the Slaying Axe, doing 40-50 damage on activation; if using the Slaying Hammer, Bonfire would be better, doing around 20-25 damage. A 3 turn cooldown special is desired, for reasons explained below.

A Skill: Any defence-boosting skill will work here; Atk/Def Bond is chosen because Bartre functions mostly on the enemy phase, so positioning for it is easier; it also boosts his Atk and Def at the same time. On a budget, Earth Boost is a good choice, as Bartre's ridiculous HP stat will cause it to activate on most units.

B Skill: Quick Riposte is far and away the best option for Bartre's B skill. As Bartre is rather slow, many units will double him, which is what we want. With Quick Riposte, Bartre will make a follow-up attack after the opponent follows up. With a three turn cooldown special, this means Bartre will activate Ignis/Bonfire on the follow-up, killing most opponents immediately. Axebreaker is a decent alternative, ensuring wins against almost all axe opponents.

C Skill: There are two excellent choices for this skill, and both are designed to take advantage of his amazing HP. If Bartre is part of an infantry team, he will want to use Infantry Pulse, as there are almost no units who will have more HP than Bartre, meaning most infantry will have a lower special cooldown. If running in a mixed team, Panic Ploy may be a better choice. Few opponents will be able to match Bartre's HP, and will therefore be panicked.

Seal: Close Defence is the obvious choice here; an extra 6 Def on enemy phase against the melee units Bartre will be fighting is extremely helpful, both for taking less damage and for powering up Ignis/Bonfire.

Blessing: The fire blessing is the most obvious choice, providing 4 more Def and 3 more HP, though the earth blessing could also help, providing Bartre with more firepower.

Summary: This build is designed to make Bartre into a wall against physical melee units. Bartre wants Atk and Def buffs from his teammates to further this role. Magic is still his greatest weakness, though this can be mitigated by proper positioning; if Bartre does get hit by magic, his high HP may save him regardless.

Slaying Axe+ (Spd)(Weapon)
A rather unorthodox weapon refinement of choice, but can work well for someone like Bartre as he has a superboon in Speed. In addition, he can make use of Specials like Bonfire and Draconic Aura quite nicely.

Reposition (Assist)
Very self-explanatory.

Bonfire / Ignis (Special)
Bonfire is the Special of choice since he would appreciate having a Special ready on the second hit while having Desperation in his current build. Otherwise, Ignis is a very solid option to go with.

Fury 3 (A-Slot)
One of the better budget skills. Thankfully, Bartre naturally comes with it, but Hinata has his available at 4 Star rarity. Regardless, this comes to play fairly nicely with Desperation.

Desperation 3 (B-Slot)
Something you would not expect to see on a average Speedy unit like Bartre. But when given the chance and have the necessary tools for inheritance and support, he is surprisingly fast.

Threaten Spd 3 (C-Slot)
A makeshift skill until Bartre gets his hands on Spd Smoke 3 or Odd/Even Spd Wave 3. This will help Bartre double against many units and safely double when in Desperation range.

Pros:
- Good Attack stat as well as Defense, making him a good melee duellist
- Has amazing HP pool, which makes him a good user of Panic Ploy and Infantry Pulse
- One of the few units with the Hammer+ weapon, which can be upgraded into Slaying Hammer+ to better duel against ever popular Armored units in the arena

Cons:
- Requires heavy Skill Inheritance to be competent as his base kit does not help him in the slightest (outside of Fury and not engaging in combat with an Armored unit)
- Has non-existent Res, which makes him susceptible to even powerful Blue Mages like Reinhardt
- With neutral Speed IV, he is not that fast of a unit and will get doubled a lot of the time

A tank build for supporting an infantry blade mage. He protects himself with 44 def and guard on enemy phase while providing plenty of buffs. He will also charge ignis rather quickly for a strike with around 85 potential damage after ardent service's buff, depending on whether he launches it on player or enemy phase.

Alternative skills:

Assists: rally def, or rally def/res if not using a buffing seal

Specials: aether, or bonfire if not using steady breath. Aether is an attempt to regain guard by healing, but it can be problematic if he fails to OHKO and the opponent retaliates.

C and S: Hone spd should be in one or the other. The other slot can be for panic ploy, QR, def or res smoke, or even threaten def for when Bartre tries to OHKO someone with an ignis. Heavy blade is also an idea if not using steady breath.

Fast variation of this build: Bartre has a spd superboon available to him, and with a spd-refined weapon and atk/spd bond or spd/def bond, he achieves 37 spd before ally support, which is fairly good for preventing doubles, in which case he may want to use QR instead of guard. Chill spd also becomes significantly more effective in this build; against a spd-chilled unit he has the equivalent of 46 spd after ally support. The fast version of this build is especially attractive considering that most of the super-fast units in the game are swords that he doesn't want to tank anyways. The main weakness of going for spd is that bold fighter does not care about his spd and will launch a big bonfire or ignis anyways. Bartre may be able to get around this issue by using moonbow and simply attacking into the bold fighter to win on his own turn instead of sitting around and letting the bold fighter blow him up.